


The romance of Katniss Everdeen and other stories

by Merit



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Metafiction, Past Abuse, Past Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 11:51:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merit/pseuds/Merit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These sort of stories had become popular after the rebellion ended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The romance of Katniss Everdeen and other stories

Johanna didn’t visit the Capitol often. For practical purposes it was still the capitol of Panem. District 13 was buried underground and there were few cities in Panem. But sometimes business found her here. Her face wasn’t as well known as Katniss or Peeta’s, but her old Capitol fan club was still active. Most had quietly disbanded in the chaos of the rebellion and then with the work of the rebuilding. But Johanna was a Victor and a rebel and was a safe choice for many former Capitol denizens to obsess over. Now they could celebrate her bravery for surviving torture and rebelling against the Capitol. It seemed fucking strange to Johanna, but old habits died hard for them.

But when she did visit the Capitol, she made sure she was wearing a hat. Before the rebellion her plain, ordinary hat might have attracted more attention but after the rebellion, the Capitol’s more exuberant styles had faded under the new political regime. The former socialites and trend setters, those who survived and were deemed ‘safe’, had decided that inner beauty was the new thing. Inner beauty of course meant decadent linings on coats, from silk to feathers. Johanna didn’t have the heart to tell them that they were possibly missing the point. Well. She had only told a few dozen people before the joke had gotten old. A girl had to keep things fresh. 

The hat kept her hidden, the hat kept her anonymous. It ranked at her sometimes that even at home she got men taking their hats off for her in respect, old ladies telling her what a good girl she was. She went home to an empty house - thanks to Snow - kicked her boots off viciously and wondered if Haymitch had it right, to drink away the dark thoughts.

In the Capitol she could be an ordinary girl from District 7. If she kept her face hidden.

The city had changed. The outer edges of the Capitol were still ravaged. Rebuilding was slow. Perhaps on purpose. Paylor may be kinder than Coin, but Johanna didn't think she wanted the former social butterflies to resume their past luxury too quickly.

In the centre of the city everything almost looked new. The roads were smooth, the buildings not riddled with bullet marks. There were occasional displays. Memorials of the second rebellion. Johanna avoided them. The memories were deeply embedded in her head. She didn't need more reminders.

The new buildings took on the styles of the Districts. The Capitol was for all now. Superficially mostly, a trellis that reminded you of District 9 or a balcony that could have fit in District 3. Everything had to be on a much grander scale. The Capitol had suppressed anything larger than a town in the Districts. Anything greater was perceived as a possible threat. People poured into the Capitol now. They were no longer afraid.

But even if the Capitol had changed, even if the former excesses had been harshly curbed, some old Capitol entertainments had risen again. Music halls reopened and ballads of the second rebellion became very popular. They were often sad, lovers fighting together, but only one survived the rebellion. The sly ones poked at the current government, while insisting it could only be a critique of the Capitol.

Songs weren't the only thing that the Capitol produced about the rebellion.

 _The Romance of Katniss Everdeen_ read the playbill. Johanna snorted and shoved it in her pocket. Something like came out every couple of months. Sure, Katniss had kind of destroyed her image by killing Coin. But on the other hand, it did add mystery to the Girl on Fire. The fact that Katniss had refused an interview had only increased the speculation.  
   
So you got bullshit like _Peeta Mellark: Torn Between Two Lovers_ , a ‘tell all’ that promised to reveal that the true reason that Katniss had shot Coin was because she was furiously jealous over Coin attempting to seduce Peeta. It relied on ‘never seen before documents!’ and ‘exclusive interviews’ to hint at a glorious intergenerational romance.  
   
Johanna had particularly laughed over a soap opera that had been released a few years ago. Katniss had been played by a willowy young woman who couldn’t hold a bow correctly and simpered in every scene she had been in. The only thing that had been accurate had been the sheer quantity of make outs during the 74th Hunger Games. The soap opera hadn’t been well received in District 11, because Rue’s scene had been cut to feature Katniss and Peeta losing their virginity to each on the train back to District 12. She had sent a copy of that scene to Katniss herself.  
   
 In some ways the more ridiculous stuff was easier to swallow. You could forgive passionate make out scenes, every tribute somehow staying clean during the Games or sappy declarations of love. That wasn’t the real story. In adaptations that actually focused on the Victors’ captivity, Johanna was a side note. A wet rat that was afraid of her own tears. It was a little too close to reality.  
   
It meant that Finnick and Annie's son was being raised without television. One time Annie had just been flicking through channels, paused to make dinner and when she returned she had to watch a reenactment of Finnich being torn to pieces. _The Last Days of Finnick Odair_ had been widely praised but was considered a gore fest. It had skeeved Johanna out. It had made Annie scream. And scream. 

People approached Annie in the street, cooing over her son. Saying what a beautiful boy he was, how much he looked like Finnick. It scared Annie, she would clutch her son and nod shakily. Finnick had been handsome, so loved and he had been abused, his lovely body used.

They loved it though. The Capitol citizens and the people of the Districts. Most of them had been touched by war, but not everyone had been hurt, scarred, a husk of who they once were.

Johanna, she watched them too, she would grimly watch a scene where she was tortured, hating herself for being unable to turn it off. But then she could laugh and record the many various sappy love declarations that Peeta and Katniss made to each other. They made killer anniversary gifts.

**Author's Note:**

> For the space 'metafiction' on my trope_bingo square.


End file.
